Jude Sheerin
BBC News
Washington DC report
Watch: Trump and Modi say that the meeting will revolve around trade
President Trump announced an agreement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to import more US oil and gas to reduce the trade deficit between the two countries.
“They will buy a large part of our oil and our gas. They need it. And we have it,” Trump told a joint briefing in Washington.
Modi said that “in order to ensure the energy security of India, we will focus on the oil and gas trade”, also committing to investing more in nuclear energy.
His two-day visit comes when Trump has ordered that US trade partners are expected to face reciprocal prices-Import Taxes Tit-For-Tat to correspond to similar rights already billed by these countries on American exports.
Trump and Modi have developed a personal relationship over the years, despite the friction on trade.
“We had a wonderful relationship,” said Trump, welcoming his visitor to the American capital on Thursday.
He also said that the United States would increase military equipment sales in India by millions of dollars, ultimately providing Delhi F-35 fighter planes.
Immigration was raised on the agenda, Trump should ask India to take thousands of undocumented immigrants.
Earlier, Modi said that he also discussed space, technology and innovation at a meeting with Trump Ally Elon Musk.
Modi said: “I firmly believe that with Trump, we will work with twice the speed we made during his first mandate.”
Shortly before their bilateral, Trump ordered his advisers to calculate new prices on American trade partners around the world, warning that they could start to enter into force by April 1.
Watch: Trump says prices could make prices “increase in the short term”
Trump told journalists that “our allies are worse than our enemies”, with regard to import taxes.
“We had a very unfair system for us,” said the Republican president before meeting Modi. “Everyone took advantage of the United States.”
The White House also published a press release which fired a commercial blow through the arcs of India and other countries.
The document noted that the average American price on agricultural goods was 5% for countries where Washington had granted the most favored nation status (MFN).
“But the average mf -applied MFN price is 39%,” said the White House information sheet.
“India also invoices a 100% price on American motorcycles, while we only invoice a rate of 2.4% on Indian motorcycles.”
Watch: Elon Musk meets Prime Minister Narenda Modi at DC
Trump recognized the risks of its pricing policy on Thursday, as economists warned that such import taxes could increase consumer prices.
“Prices could increase somewhat, in the short term, but prices will also drop,” he said in the oval office.
But he argued that politics would stimulate American manufacturing and that the country would be “flooded with jobs”.
Trump has already placed an additional 10% rate on imports from China, citing his fentanyl production, a deadly opioid that fueled an epidemic of American overdose.
He also prepared prices on Canada and Mexico, the two largest American trade partners, who could take effect in March after being suspended for 30 days.
On Monday, he withdrew the exemptions from his 2018 steel and aluminum rates.
